Thanks for visiting VerseProse. My name is James LaMear. Follow me on Twitter: @JamesLaMear or on Facebook: James LaMear, Writer
Now let me tell you a little bit about myself.
In 2007, I graduated with my MBA and began looking for a job in St. Louis. After several months of summertime job searching, I decided that what I really needed was to experience life in a new city. So I decided to pack up and leave my hometown of St. Louis, make the trek up to Chicago, and strike out to search for my dreams, whatever they might be.
Little did I know that, while my timing seemed sporadic and disorganized to many people (myself included), it was anything but. Within a day of moving up to Chicago, I made contact with a sometime acquaintance of mine who had also just happened to move up to Chicago for grad school. Since neither of us knew anybody in a city of some 8 million people, it made sense to meet up and explore the city together.
Within a few weeks, this friend introduced me to a couple of her roommates in the dorm. We had a great time hanging out in the city, and it was really good to know a few people in the town. I became fast friends with one of them (you know who you are). We’d go to the pubs together and sneak bottles of booze into the movie theaters to pour into our sodas (which Chicagoans call pop). I’ve seen some pretty bad movies that really get turned around by this little trick!
This story, however, is really about the other roommate. As I got to know the second roommate, I started developing a little bit of a crush. I think developing a crush on someone new isn’t all that unusual for anyone. It wasn’t all that unusual for me either. What was unusual was that I couldn’t let it go. It’s like a 12 step program: “The first step is acknowledging you’ve got a crush.” Anyway, I never let it go. The story of the crush is for another time, but its enough to say I married that girl 4 and a half years later, and I’m here writing this blog today because of her.
At this point you might be thinking “Puke! A love story, really? That’s fine, but you’re making me sick”” So maybe, I found my “soul mate”, my “life friend”, if you will. But really, she wasn’t what I was seeking. I found her while looking for something else: myself. If I hadn’t made that decision to move to Chicago when I did, I might never have met my wife. It’s my wife who encouraged me to find what brings me joy, and that is priceless.
So that brings me to this blog. Sharing Ideas makes me happy. Flowing and tumbling verses, good stories and good storytellers make me happy. My future posts will be anything from me sharing an experience of Chicago parking to some poetry based on life reflection, frustration or anything else that inspires me.
This blog will hopefully be many things some day, but starting today it is an expression of my joy.
Follow me on Twitter: @JamesLaMear
Follow me on Facebook: James LaMear, Writer